Senate unanimously passes Contempt of Parliament Bill 2023

ISLAMABAD: Senate has unanimously passed the Contempt of Parliament (National Assembly & Senate) Bill 2023, ARY News reported on Monday.

The Contempt of Parliament Bill 2023 or Contempt of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parlia­ment) Bill 2023 was presented to the Senate by Senator Kauda Babar. The legislation approved the imposition of strict penalties for contempt of the parliament.

Under the legislation, up to six months imprisonment, Rs1 million fine or both will be imposed on anyone found guilty of holding parliament or its members in contempt.

The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate today and it will be promulgated after a ceremonial presidential assent.

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The Contempt of Parliament Bill 2023 was passed by the National Assembly (NA) in May. The bill had been tabled by a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissident lawmaker Rana Qasim Noon which was referred to the concerned committee by the NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

After some amendments in which the fine amount was reduced from Rs10 million to Rs1 million, the NA lawmakers passed the bill.

Additionally, the Senate also passed the Pakistan Institute of Management Sciences & Technology Bill which was presented by an independent senator Rana Maqbool.

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Moreover, the Upper House passed NFC Institute of Engineering and Technology Multan Bill which was presented by the Federal Education Minister Rana Tanveer in the National Assembly.

In May, the Senate had passed Election Act amendment bill 2022 and National Accountability Ordinance Amendment Bill 2022 with a majority vote to reverse the use of EVM, voting rights of overseas Pakistanis and curtail powers of NAB amid protest from opposition lawmakers.

Law Minister Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar had presented the bills in the House for voting as PTI Parliamentary Leader Shahzad Waseem called for sending them to the concerned standing committees for further discussion.

However, the Senate Chairman tabled them for voting which resulted in them sailing through the Upper House with a majority vote.